good morning to you and welcome to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> hello there, i'm ashleigh banfield. we're bringing you the news to "a" to "z." zoraida, i don't know if you need to explain that. 5:00 a.m. on the east. top stories. federal prosecutors and the fbi now investigating the killing of an unarmed teenager by a neighborhood watch captain in florida. the black teenager's parents say race was a factor. 911 calls captured the teenager's final moments. >> in just two hours, the polls

will open in illinois and the outcome of this primary could be critical. total chaos. >> and a deadly shooting at a jewish school in france triggering fears of a possible copycat attack in this country. police in new york and other cities on high alert. once again, severe weather overnight. this time in texas, a tornado touching down right near san antonio. take a look at that. reports of significant damage this morning. this is part of a slow-moving line of storms stretching from texas all the way to minnesota. >> those storms also bringing some really heavy rain to oklahoma. take a look at your screen. don't do this at home, folks. don't drive through that stuff. floods in tulsa and other parts of eastern oklahoma. you're lucky, buddy. you're lucky that you could get out of your car and get out of that next one. flash flooding into tomorrow.

>> someone always tries. i guess you underestimate how deep it is. >> and how much it's moving. >> one minute past the hour. he was 17 years old, unarmed. carrying skittles and a bottle of iced tea. now the fbi is investigating the shooting death of a teen in florida. >> we are working hard. >> who's that crying? >> nearly 100 students and friends of trayvon martin gathering outside a florida courthouse demanding justice for that black teenager who was shot and killed last month by george zimmerman. he was a neighborhood watch captain patrolling his gated community. that teenager's parents say they believe race was a factor. although we don't know who is doing the screaming you can certainly hear it. you can also hear the fatal shot in a 911 call from the area.

>> so you think you're hearing help ask. >> yes. >> what is your -- >> there's gunshots. >> did you say gunshots. >> yes. >> how many? >> just one. >> now, that neighborhood watch captain zimmerman has not been charged. he claims he was acting in self-defense when he pulled the trigger. trayvon martin's family wants him arrested and want a jury to weigh in. the stand your ground law is a self-defense law that could make that very difficult to actually do. it is 3 minutes past the hour. just when you thought the race for the republican nomination couldn't get nastier. >> i did. i thought it could. >> it probably will. the polls open in illinois. 54 delegates are up for grabs there. american research group poll conducted over the weekend shows mitt romney with 44%. 14 point as head of rick santorum. and we're seeing some really nasty no-holds barred chicago-style politics. >> we're not going to be

successful in replacing an economic lightweight with another one. >> do you believe this country wants to elect someone like that. >> we didn't say them vote early and vote often. shall we check the delegate scoreboard. romney is way ahead at 519. santorum trailing at 239. newt gingrich and ron paul. so many say it's not an option anymore. that's wise anyway. paul steinhauser is live from wheaton, illinois. i feel like a broken record. paul, every time i come to you to advance one of these contests, we tend to say the same thing over and over. lots of delegates at stake. could romney come out as a front runner so i'll ask. is it even possible anymore to have any race determine who si front-runner could be?

>> reporter: i don't think a lot will change unless rick santorum wins in illinois. that could send tidal waves around the political landscape but you showed that poll, one of two out in the last 48 hours that indicates romney is starting to build a double-digit lead in illinois. ashleigh, he should because it should be more favorable ground for him especially where i am in suburban chicago, a lot more moderate you could say republican voters casting ballots in today's primary. a natural for mitt romney. should do well. santorum will probably do well in more conservative down state and mitt romney needs to win. we said he needed to win michigan, he did, not by a lot. he needed to win ohio, he did do that, but not by a lot. he needs to win here especially last week after he came in third in the more conservative states of alabama and mississippi. ashleigh. >> i feel like it's a north/south story, not exclusively but generally. not only because of what you just said it's the northern part

of illinois that tends to favor romney and the southern part tends to favor santorum but the northern part of the united states is seemingly favoring romney and the southern states are favoring santorum. >> yeah, romney has done well on the coast. he has done well in some parts -- well, some people would not consider florida the south but did well there. santorum has done well in the midwest except for a few states like michigan and ohio and we will see what happens here. listen, mitt romney has pulled out all the stops i think you could say. romney's campaign and independent super pac have outspent him in this state, 7-1 on campaign commercials. >> wow. >> saw a similar thing play out in ohio and michigan. where is newt gingrich? not here, ashleigh. spending today straight through saturday campaigning in louisiana, they have the next contest. >> 7-1. that's just unbelievable. you kind of wonder when is that money going to run out or might it ever? paul, stick around.

thank you. >> 6 minutes past the hour. the deadly at a jewish school in france has people across the country on high alert. they were gunned down outside the school in toulouse, france. the killer approached on a motor scooter and just opened fire. france's interior minister says in a tv interview that the shooter had a recording device strapped to his chest. >> here in new york there's also heightened security at synagogues and jewish institutions. the police commissioner ray kelly says there is concern about copycat crimes. >> we have a significant jewish population in the city and we have to take it into account. we know we're at the top of the terrorist target list so we are concerned about the so-called copycat syndrome. >> french president nicolas sarkozy says it was an obvious

anti-semitic attack. southwest france is on the highest possible security alert and been a moment of silence for victims scheduled this morning. sad to watch. cnn's diana magnay on the phone from toulouse. what is the latest on the investigation? >> reporter: the latest is this chilling new detail that you mentioned that the gunman had a camera attached to his chest with straps. this idea that he was recording what he was doing as he gunned down those children. he got close enough to really shoot them at point blank range in the back of the head. the youngest as young as 3. the daughter of the director of the school who died in the director's arms and a rabbi, a teacher at this school and his two sons. apparently according to eyewitnesses the man was able to spend really quite a few minutes standing there shooting and making his escape on his scooter and the interior minister said

in that interview they were following various leads, one of which was checking to see whether there were any sort of leads amongst neo-nazi paratroopers. there are links, you see, between this shooting and two other shootings in the toulouse area in the last ten days, a gunman on a black scooter using apparently the same .45 semiautomatic pistol killing first last sunday an ununiformed soldier and then the thursday last two other soldiers, all of them of ethic origin, north african origin, so if you put the two together, it would seem this man is motivated by racist hatreds that's going for ethnic minorities. >> diana magnay live from toulouse, france, thanks for those detail. >> nine minutes past 5:00. he is accused of a horrible brutal massacre going door to door in two afghan villages and

shooting and killing 16 civilian, nine of them just children. but according to his attorney sergeant robert bales says he cannot remember any of it. john henry browne spoke last night on cbs news. >> he has no memory of -- he has an early memory of that evening and he has a later memory of that evening. but he doesn't have memory of in between. >> reporter: according to people who have been interviewed, eyewitnesses, sergeant bales went from room to room, he shot 16 people dead including 9 children, 5 are wounded. you're telling me he remembers none of that? >> that's correct. >> possibly setting the stage for a diminished capacity defense. sergeant bales' wife karen breaking her silence issuing a statement through her attorney last night and saying this "what has been reported is completely out of character of the man i know and admire. please respect me.

when i say i cannot shed any light on what happened that night so please do not ask. i too want to know what happened. i want to know how this could be." >> that is just heartbreaking to think of what she's going through and her family. >> ten minutes past the hour here. severe weather beating up the nation's midsection. a tornado touched down in south central texas near the town of natalia. 30 miles or so from san antonio. look at that. medinah county sheriff's office says it received more than 300 calls indicating damage or injury. the twister is part of a slow-moving dangerous weather system. >> 11 minutes past 5:00 and rob marciano has been watching these systems. it was getting perilously close to the dallas metroplex. did that highly populated area weather that okay? >> they did okay but there was a dangerous line moving through there. really the whole entire i-35 corridor. other stills of that storm that

moved through divine, texas, multiple homes that were damaged. no serious injuries thankfully but a dangerous situation no doubt about that. we do have a tornado warning right now in effect for dewitt county east of san antonio. this is the line that brought the tornadoes to that area last night. very, very slow-moving line. it's now, i don't know, about 75 to maybe 100 miles east of where the tornadoes touched down so it's crawling off to the east. the other threat with this, not only severe weather in effect forof southeast texas through the rest of the morning but notice these aren't progressing that far to the east very quickly. so flooding has been an issue across the entire state of texas, especially the midsection for the past 12 hours over a foot of rain in some spots and that rain is going to be moving offer to the east. severe weather threat with the threat for flooding across louisiana, arkansas, meanwhile, the heat continues across the eastern corridor. temperature, 25 to 30 degrees

above average. first day of spring, by the way, yesterday. >> first day of spring, oh, i thought that was a month ago. >> yeah, right. >> yeah. >> feeling more like summer these day, rob, thank you. >> all right, guy, 12 minutes past the hour. this just in, you should expect it. gas prices keep going up. aaa announced it's $3.85 a gallon. closer and closer to that $4 a gallon mark. oil prices are still high, $107 a barrel for light, sweet crude and oil is the number one factor driving gas prices higher. >> i always think that sounds light, sweet crude. >> oh, yeah, 13 minutes past 5:00. during an election year let's bring in christine romans to talk about what the candidates say about bringing the gas. i always see $2.50 gas, vote for me. >> i don't want anyone to believe this election year rhetoric. if a president or congress or government can lower gas prices, don't you think they wouldy i

mean long-term they could have subtle impacts on the direction of oil prices and as zoraida said oil is the number one factor in how much you're paying at the pump. but presidents don't wave a magic wand and set the price of gas line. they just don't. here are five ways, surefire ways to lower gas prices right away. my tongue is firmly in my cheek right now. cow have a depression. that would lower gas prices, i guarantee it. you could have peace break out overnight between iran and israel and the u.s. immediately lift all sanctions against iran. that would lower gas prices. you could just scrap all the clean air rules in the country because we don't need clean air. that would lower them. china could decide it's never going to put gas in a car or factory and go 100% solar or you could empty our emergency stock -- just empty them, put them in our gas tank so we can pay $2 or something. >> even that wouldn't help, would it? >> last year the president -- >> temporarily, right.

>> what i'm saying there is no easy way to do it. anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you. so, you know, we're -- i feel like people know this too. i feel like people know there is this election year and all this bickering. >> 54% of americans think the president can do something about it. >> longer term he can. all these people arguing about keystone. if you had keystone, that pipeline pass almost every oil e. pert i talked to said you'd have gas prices exactly where they are. that is not to say we shouldn't be diversifying oil. i'm not saying that. i'm just saying that everything that presidents do with congress is longer term and more subtle. i want to also point out something else that tom from the oil price information service was making at this point. good thing we've had such mild weather. one of the reasons why the economic impact of high gas prices might be muted is because people in the midwest and northeast are paying lower heating oil bills. >> strangely i am not. >> neither am i. >> phenomenal to the east coast.

>> welcome to the east coast. >> there you go. >> i got to call my oil company. i smell a rat. >> just show them the 60-day forecast and say -- >> what's one that. the lady on the phone said, i don't know. i like that. helpful. >> thank you, christine. 15 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. first lady appeared on a late night talk show with david letterman. you may have heard of him. first time as dave's guest. asked her about life in the white house and whether she can go anywhere in public. prosecution obama told him about one of her covert shopping trips. >> that's my target run. i went to target. i thought i was under cover. i have to tell you something about this trip, though. no one knew that was me because a woman actually walked up to me, right. i was in the detergent aisle and she said -- i kid you not. she said, excuse me, i just have

to ask you something and i thought, oh, coverage is blown. she said can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent. i kid you not. and the only thing she said, i reached up because she was short and i reached up, pulled it down. she said, well, you didn't have to make it look so easy. >> you know, she said she's gone undercover as well to petco-taking along with her the first dog bo. >> how is that undercover. >> i don't know. the dog alone is famous. >> i think what a bummer they have to live in cognito. >> we have new developments in the shooting death of an unarmed florida teenager. the fbi is now getting involved. wouldn't be another week without some story about a cruise ship going haywire. how wow like to be on that cruise ship as it careens right into a tanker, ouch, we'll tell

you what happened. >> i'm in the middle of planning a cruise. they're called glee on steroids. this is a high cool choir grand champions they have been crowned and they only started singing together 18 months ago. we are going to meet some of them on "early start" this morning live. everything. and more. ♪ lemon burst, blackberry harvest, pina colada... i can't imagine where she is... orange creme... [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. [ female announcer ] yoplait original. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way.

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hi, welcome back. >> here is christine romans. the fbi is investigating an unarmed black teen's murder in florida. trayvon martin's parents say race was a factor. the shooter, george zimmerman, says he acted in self-defense. he has not been arrested. voting begins in less than two hours in the illinois primary. mitt romney and rick santorum stepping up their attacks. romney referring to his rival as an economic lightweight. santorum countering by questioning whether americans really want a wall street financier as president of the united states. 54 delegates at stake. romney with a 14-point lead in illinois. deadly bombings rock iraq -- attacks in seven cities including baghdad and fallujah. at least 20 people have been killed. 167 injured. officials say the attacks are the coordinated efforts of an

unknown militant group nine years ago today. nine years ago today they inv e invaded iraq. a luxury cruise liner crash nothing a container ship in the thick of fog off the coast of vietnam. passengers knocked off their feet. luckily no one was hurt. both ships suffered damage and i'll tell you right now the reputation of the cruise line injury has suffered damage over the past few months. >> i stand corrected. i called it a tanker. it was a container ship and what a mess. >> absolutely. >> the bridge, that photo, that was the bridge and nobody has been able to figure out if anybody was hurt on that ship. christine, thank you. 22 minutes past 5:00. early read on these things, local papers, your papers are making some national headlines, as well. papers from new york and california. >> and in "the new york times" this morning a staggering drop in the number of students taking the lsats. the numbers of tests administered more than 16%, the

largest drop in more than a decade. it reflects the view that the u.s. legal market is in bad shape. good schools don't guarantee high paying jobs at a law firm. >> what's worse than 100 lawyers at the bottom of the sea, they now say 100 of us. i don't know if our industry is low in the applications to universities either but -- >> liberal arts education, right? >> i hear you. so while we're showing you candy and battered things, this is all about a court case, are you ready for this that pits sugar against high fructose corn syrup. sugar is suing corn syrup. they don't like the wrap that corn syrup is putting out that they're natural, good for you and all the rest. sugar says, no, you're not and high fructose says, yes, we are. sugar promoters are saying we think you're connected to obesity and diabetes and tooth

decay and all the rest. get this, are you ready. this is the part i like the best, the association that's representing corn growers and processors and distributors has applied to the food and drug administration to change the name of it to corn sugar. >> oh, lovely. >> i love it. anyway anyways. >> a bad rap for quite some time. i know, i always look for that label. i typically don't buy it. >> no, "saturday night live" did an awesome, awesome spoof of it. google it. you will have a water cooler conversation. >> put it on facebook. the gop battling for president obama's home state. the polls open in illinois in just over 90 minutes. kaeding throwing huge blows at each other over the economy. but did two of them stumble yesterday? also, shooting ash four miles into the sky. gosh, that makes for a great

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welcome back, 28 minutes past the hour. we're happy to have you on

"early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ashleigh banfield. time to check the stories making top news. polls are opening in illinois. 90 minutes from now, 54 critical delegates at take in today's primary. the two gop front-runners tearing down each other's credentials to oversee the economy. mitt romney calling rick santorum an "economic lightweight." federal prosecutors are now investigating the killing of an unarmed black teenager by a neighborhood watch captain. all in florida. students protesting and demanding justice for trayvon martin. his parents saying race was a factor in his death. the shooter, george zimmerman, says he acted in self-defense. he has not been arrested and justice department is releasing a statement saying "the department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the

investigation." molten lava is spewing from italy's mt. etna. a plume of ash and smoke billowed out of the top and stretched for four miles too. amazingly no airports have been closed but officials are keeping a close eye on this. mt. etna is europe's tallest and most active volcano. polls open in just about 90 minutes in illinois in the race for the state's delegates focused on the economy and who is better equipped to fix it. romney is leading. he is touting his own economic expertise calling obama and santorum economic lightweights but did make this admission that had to be well received in the white house. listen. >> i believe the county is coming back. we'll see what happens. ups and downs and finally i think it's coming back. >> santorum stumbles taking heat for a comment he made about the unemployment rate.

listen. >> i don't care what the unpolite rate is going to be. it doesn't matter to me. my campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. there's something more foundational that's going on here. >> all right. so let's talk to our political panel, live from washington or from wheaton, illinois, cnn political editor paul steinhauser. in washington, penny lee and in austin, texas, republican strategist matt mackowiak. paul, i'll start with you. we'll let santorum clarify his comment. let's listen to this. >> i wish i care point unemployment rate. i want it to go down but saying my candidacy doesn't thing on where it goes up or down but something that transcends that. not governor romney's idea that he'll fix the economy. >> illinois' unemployment rate

is 9.4% for january of 2012 but it was at an all-time high of 11.4% in 2010. it's improving from the last two years but look at this gallup poll. it says 31% of americans think the economy is the most important issue. 26% thinks unemployment is. so who loses ground here? how does santorum make any sense of what he said? >> yeah, rick santorum was trying to do the bigger picture and say mitt romney is more of a technician and tied to the unemployment rate and if it's going down mitt romney's arguments for being president dose down with it and had to do a little make good. but he has a point to a degree that, you know, if things are starting to get better with the unemployment report and we see those numbers come down consistently since last autumn maybe it does hurt mitt romney's argument a little. didn't say it artfully. did have to make a little fix there. zoraida? >> it was a fix so let's listen

to what romney said, matt. i'm going to switch gears with you and stay on the same topic and listen to this then we'll chat. >> the obama administration's assault on our economic freedom is the principal reason why the recovery has been so tepid. and why it couldn't meet their expectations. let alone ours. >> all right. the unemployment rate is about stable, 8.3% and see it has improved since obama took office but saw romney flip-flopping yesterday. you know, first he was saying that, you know, they're not doing well and that the economy is doing better. so what's the strategy with the flip-flopping there in the same day? >> you know, these guys are on the trail and stakes are so high and everything they say is being reported around the world that you say things you'd like to take back. santorum wants this primary to be focused on obama care, on the bailouts and issues he has a difference with romney. if the primary is fought on

issue of the economy that's romney's strong point. it just is. he spent so much time in the private sector and understands how it works in a much more fundamental way i think than santorum does so, look, these guys again, they want to, you know, make their best argument in the best way they can an sometimes they mess up. santorum did try to fix his comment yesterday but the fact we're talking about that this morning as voters in illinois go to the polls is not a good thing for his candidacy. >> what about romney's comments then saying basically the administration is doing a good job? >> well, i don't know they said that. i mean i think he said that we've had a pretty weak recovery, in fact, the statistics show this is one of the weakest recoveries after a recession or downturn in a couple generations. >> i believe he said it was back on track, didn't he? >> he did say -- he did say it's back on track. i'm thought sure if i would have necessarily used those words. the fundamentals are still

worrisome when you look at europe. when you look at the broader unemployment rate is still above 15%. the way that our unemployment statistics are calculated is a little bit phony to be candid with you so the fact that it shows 8.3% doesn't mean 97 -- excuse me, 90 -- what is it 92% or so is employed. a much larger number is employed because of the way it's calculated. if you go out in the economy there aren't enough jobs and people have been unemployed for six or 12 months. >> interesting you bring it up, penny, it's precisely what i want to talk to you about. despite the chart we just showed, 59% of americans disapprove of obama handling our economy. why? the underemployment rate 14.9%. much larger than the unemployment rate, it's the underemployment rate that's high and that's unemployed people plus part-time workers who can't find full time jobs so even though supposedly the economy is

improving this is really something that shows that the pain goes beyond the numbers. how can obama address that? >> well, it is in the fact that the policies he's put in place are starting to have positive effect and that is what they are counting on is the trend lines that we are seeing and those are trending in the right direction. we all have acknowledged we have a far way to go. to get out, the hole that we were in was quite deep put into place by the bush administration, other policies of the republicans in the past, got us into where we are. but they have stopped the trending of decrease and actually coming back out so jobs are increasing but the president is not resting on the numbers that they are. he wants them to continue to increase so we appreciate the fact that the governor did acknowledge that the economy is moving in the right direction but we all would acknowledge and say that a long way to go. >> the american people are quite displeased here. paul, matt, penny, thank you for joining us and see you again in our 6:00 hour.

at 7:00 soledad o'brien will be joined by reince priebus followed by extended results during "ac360" and "piers morgan tonight." still ahead some very rough surf made for a terrifying moment off the coast of california. a father and his 11-year-old son yanked out to sea. a lifeguard also getting stuck and all waiting for a lifeline from the sky. also coming up, it is better than glee. get your glee meter out. a jazzy competition, serious winners, the grand champs will talk about the new phenomenon. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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you are to meet some real-life gleeks. affectionately called the members in the glee club on the show "glee." well, of course, these are the real-life glee folks but you know something we have some real union gleeks, as well. have a look at this. ♪ >> ah, not sure which is better but the uniondale high school show choir won the grand championship at the national championship series. it happened over this weekend. we have three of the winners to just talk us through this awesome sensation, congratulations to this. let me intro us carrie, kenyo

and arianna morrison. you have to walk me through this. when i was a kid i was in choir and i was considered a nerd. y'a y'all are in choir and you're considered a hero. is it the show or more. >> it's that fear you take on stage to represent. your school and there's no way you could dethat. you're doing good for your community. rather than crime. it's something good. >> carrie, you won something extra special. >> best male stage presence which is an honor because out of the schools they picked me. >> best male stage presence. >> a quick look at the moment that propelled you to that win. have a peek. >> oh. ♪

♪ i got that >> that's fantastic. nations. what made you this person? what made you the guy who could ket out go this the middle of the stage age crank it up to that level. >> my parents and my church but most the person that pulls out that great performance out of you. that's why we have so much. >> is this something you think of as a future or a hobby. what do people want to do when they get into this. is this fun or something that is a gateway to something bigger. >> it's fun but i take it seriously too because i see myself being in the music business in the future. >> what kind, broadway? >> broadway, soul, r&b. >> the whole shebang. one more quick clip from last night. not from last night but the weekend. fun to look at you on stage and see what you can pull off.

♪ rocking to michael jackson. this is good stuff. arianna, you're like a kid. michael jackson is my era. i'm trying to figure out which one likes him more. what do you think? >> hmm, we can share him. >> what inspires you to connect. >> it's just, you have to -- i don't know, you just have to make yourself feel it because like when you get out there, it's not about you anymore. it's about the team and altogether we love working together and we love the music that we sing. >> do you consider yourself gleeks? is the "glee" momentum from television or much different. >> it's kind of both because i mean we watch the show. i watch it a lot.

but it's different because we're really there and it's really happening so like when we like go out on stage and we're performing it's not like it's a show or whatever but it's real life so we get to really feel it. >> this is more of a nighttime thing but it's 5:44 and i know y'all probably don't get up this early but i'll put you to the test. i'll ask you to sing us out to break. do you need to hum a few bar, get your vocal tunes ready to go. >> ready. >> fire away. ♪ i'm feeling me i found another a baller we're the one that helped me out ♪ ♪ better you don't know what it's about ♪ ♪ hey i pay my bills pay the telephone bill can you pay my

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welcome back to "early start." time to chick the stories making news. here is christine romans. >> good morning. prosecutors and the fbi are now investigating the killing of an unarmed black teen by a neighborhood watch captain in florida. trayvon martin's parents saying race was a factor. the shooter, george zimmerman, says he acted in self-defense and has not been arrested. the justice department now releasing a statement saying "the department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation." in over an hour polls open in illinois. 54 crucial delegates up for

grabs in that state's primary. mitt romney and rick santorum are hammering each other on their respective credentials to manage this economy. romney calling his rival an economic lightweight. santorum countering by questioning whether americans really want a wall street financier to be president of the united states. off the coast of california, a dad, his 11-year-olds and the lifeguard who went out after them all air lifted to safety. officials say the boy and a friend were boogie boarding when a dangerous riptide pulled them out to sea. one made it back to shore. they were stranded for more than an hour in high waves, 52-degree water and reportedly hospitalized with hypothermia. terrifying. for the first time wendy as has dethroned burger king as the second biggest hamburger chain. they had sales of 8.5 billion compared to 8.4 billion for burger king. mcdonald's still by far the

largest burger chain with more than 34 billion in sales. >> more than the two combined. >> yeah, i'm telling you. chicken nuggets make me hungry. >> i prefer the frosties at wendy's. >> i'm a whopper girl. >> culinary, you know, tastes are showing here. >> bk -- well, epicurean tastes for sure. >> epicurean. >> thank you. >> was that the word of the day. >> epicurean taste. accidental thing. by the way, christine, i have to tell you this because you and i are pregnant at the same time twice. i once ate five big macs when i was pregnant. >> my heart is hurting. >> i have to admit that on national television. i'm good now. >> just so you know. it didn't happen again. >> 51 minutes past 5:00. ahead on "early start," take a look at this video. >> a little weird. >> yeah. yeah. >> he's such a sweetheart. look what is going on.

a tsa agent is patting him down, he's 3. swabbing him and testing him. it is two years old. why is it viral now? we'll talk about this in a moment. >> did you hear, peyton manning picked denver so tebow time expiring? you're watching "early start." been here since the early 50s. my dad and grandfather spent their whole careers here. [ charlie ] we're the heartbeat of this place, the people on the line. we take pride in what we do. when that refrigerator ships out the door, it's us that work out here. [ michael ] we're on the forefront of revitalizing manufacturing. we're proving that it can be done here, and it can be done well. [ ilona ] i came to ge after the plant i was working at closed after 33 years. ge's giving me the chance to start back over. [ cindy ] there's construction workers everywhere. so what does that mean? it means work. it means work for more people. [ brian ] there's a bright future here, and there's a chance to get on the ground floor of something big, something that will bring us back.

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a whopper or a big mac. >> still on that. taking a look at what's trending and this one is unbelievable. a 3-year-old kiddo in a wheelchair being patted down by the tsa going viral, folks. have a look. >> weird, huh? it's a little weird. >> yeah, yeah. >> he's so precious. but this isn't something you're used to seeing, right? a little 3-year-old with a broken leg that can't stand up being swabbed and being patted down. his shirt lifting up. it was really kind of crazy. his dad strangely enough, though, just posted it even hoe this whole thing happened two years ago. and when you posted it there were comments and all -- a lot of criticism about the dad. what's your motivation. why wouldn't you post it when it happened and why all the editorial. the dad says, i don't know. i mean i could have made it more dramatic. here's the weirdest part.

>> pretty dramatic just watching that. >> guess where they were headed? >> disney world. to make it even more of a bummer. >> i know. did you buy a tim tebow jersey? >> i'm just not a basketball fan. >> all right. folks. >> kidding. >> if you were one of the people who bought a tim tebow jersey, he does play football, sorry about that. now that it looks like peyton manning landed in denver, the talk is turning to where tim tebow go? he led the broncos to the playoffs last year, ashleigh, his hometown of jacksonville jaguars, perhaps miami being mentioned, possible destinations. what do you think. do you think possibly becoming tom brady's backup in new england? >> if it weren't for the studio crew i would haved in what happens in sports. >> all sports? >> well, of course, there's curling. don't even get me started on curling. >> good canadian sport. >> i think basketball was actually invented in canada.

>> yet you don't follow them. >> sorry. i can't help it. still ahead the gop battleground, i know you'll be glued to your tv sets and i know zoraida -- >> anything that has to do with illinois, so exciting. >> you should be too. this is president obama's proving ground. what does it mean for the republicans? >> is it ever -- >> vote early, vote often? >> yeah, the motto. you're watching "early start." we'll be right back. to make it more beautiful, and more durable. you'd use edge-to-edge gorilla glass for a stunning display in a more compact form. and you'd choose an intel® core i7™ processor for maximum processing power. everything that you could ever want in a laptop. introducing the dell xps 13 ultrabook™ everything. and more. ♪ everything. and more. in addition to the two hundred plus facilities that the university of phoenix has

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and a good morning to you. welcome to "early start." i'm ashleigh banlfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from a to z. it is 6:00 a.m. in the east.

federal prosecutors and the fbi investigating the killing of an unfarmed teen by a watcher in florida. 911 recalls the final moments. voters in illinois will start heading to the polls in one hour. and a moment of silence in france, happening right now remembering the victims from yesterday's jewish school shooting. the shootings triggered fears of a possible attack on synagogues and other jewish targets right here in this country. and nasty weather hammering the heartland. texas and oklahoma getting some of the worst of it. take a look at that, a tornado touched down in the lone star state, right near san antonio. there are reports of significant damage. with grieving parents begging for justice, the fbi is now investigating the shooting death of an unarmed teenager in

florida. >> trayvon's crying! >> who's that crying? >> trayvon's crying! >> friends gathered outside a florida courthouse yesterday demanding justice for the black teenager who was shot and killed last month by george stimerman, a neighborhood watch captain patrolling his gated community in sanford and admitted to pulling the trigger. the teen's parents say they believe race was a factor in their son's death. >> the justice department releasing a statement saying the department will conduct a thorough independent review of all the evidence and will take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation." in a 911 call you can hear screams and the fatal shot. [ screaming ] >> you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> and what is your --

gunshot ] >> there's gunshots. >> you just heard gunshots? >> how many? >> just one. >> zimmerman hasn't been charged and claims it was self-defense even though another call shows he followed the teenager even after the police told him to back off. trayvon's family wants him arrested so a jury can decide. a self-defense law could make that difficult. >> joining us is defense attorney midwin charles. weigh in with me with me if you can. when the doj gets involved are they looking to solve this crime or looking at the police officers who allegedly didn't solve this kroo crime? what is their mission? >> good morning, ashleigh. it is both. they look to see whether or not

there was any specific intent to try to hide facts, to try to shield and protect zimmerman as opposed to actually focusing on the crime. >> there's no federal murder statute, right, so i guess midwin, my question is, can they come in, can they proverbially swoop in and somehow get a murder case on the books? >> not particularly, no. usually when you have federal murder charges, they are usually wrapped up into something else, such as drug trafficking, rico cases and things like that. there are federal civil rights charges and george zimmerman can possibly face that but of course as you know the department of justice has put out as well as the u.s. attorney's office, so you've got two federal agencies involved here that are going to work jointly and together, and they both have often said that this focus is on specific intent, and not negligence, recklessness or mistakes or accidents. so you're almost seeing a sort

of reluctance on the part of the fbi and the department of justice to get involved in this, but i don't see how they couldn't, given the national outcry of what happened here. >> sure. when the politics comes into it, the doj also said it's going to work hand in hand with the state representatives. >> yes. >> can they sort of push the state, push them politically or otherwise to maybe forward something akin to a murder case? >> you know, they can't. there is a separation of powers here, which is why you see a sort of reluctance on the part of the united states department of justice and the fbi. >> that's why i said politically. >> they can point out to them what they overlooked, errors that they made, and so it would be a glaring embarrassment to them if they didn't pursue george zimmerman and arrest him. there are a lot of facts that are coming out that clearly an obvious person investigating this case would have done, for

example, no alcohol test was run on george zimmerman that night, no drug test was run on him that night, withcy typical in a case where you have a homicide. there was talk there was a cell phone that trayvon martin was carrying that day because he had just spoke within a family member. where is that cell phone? why wasn't it used to locate his body? his body was sitting in a morgue for three days as a john doe. his family initially reported him as missing. so there are a lot of things that are glaring, obvious, that were not done and typically done in a normal case. i don't have to tell you if the roles were reversed, i.e. if the victim were white and the alleged perpetrator black, this would be an entirely different story. >> and that's been a complaint by a lot of people so we'll see what the feds come up with. midwin, great of to you jump in last minute and weigh in on

this. thank you. >> you're welcome. in the spirit of chicago politics the tone is nasty. rick santorum is saying he will get the nomination if he pulls off an upset. an american poll shows mitt romney 14 points ahead of rick santorum. listen to the front-runners turning up the volume a bit. >> i'm someone experienced in the economy. i'm not an economic lightweight. president obama is. we're not going to be successful in replacing an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight. we have to replace him with someone who knows how to run this economy. >> i heard governor romney call me an economic lightweight because i wasn't a wall street financier, like he was. do you really believe this country wants to elect a wall street financier as the president of the united states? >> so let's look at the delegate

scoreboard. romney has 519, santorum, 239, gingrich 138, and ron paul 69. and a footnote here that romney is outspending in ads 7:1 in illinois. >> not just him but his super pac. you put them together that's unbelievable although that's a trend with him. >> it is, and a lot of money. >> still squeakers, we're still here. they should be trouncing these guys with that kind of money, romney. let's talk about money, shall we? house republicans set to unveil their 2013 budget and the proposal will be presented by republican congressman paul ryan. check out your "wall street journal," it is on your front doorstep, it has an opinion piece on the plan. >> "the gop budget and america's future." christine romans has been looking at this very carefully this morning. >> this is true. >> what are they proposing in this plan? >> this is a big remake of the u.s. tax code. what paul ryan and the gop are

proposing $4 trillion over ten years. the president's budget proposed $1.1 trillion over ten years. so $4 trillion or $1.1 trillion. shows you paul ryan is serious about slimming down the size of government and cutting, cutting spending and programs. first of all he would also collapse six income tax brackets into two, a 10% tax bracket and 25%. it's not clear how much money you have to make to fall into those but 10% and 25%. he would get rid of the alternative minimum tax something middle class families scream about and costs a lot of money to patch every single year. also cut the corporate tax rate to 25%, this is the gop proposal, and eliminate taxes on overseas earnings. putting the u.s. in what's called a territorial tax code, something that companies would really like. paul ryan, congressman ryan and the gop have put together a series of i'll call them web

interstitials but plain speak to talk about how serious they are about cutting america's growing deficits and debts. here's a little clip. >> our debt as a share of the economy is already too high but look at whether it's going. these are actually pretty conservative estimates. we face a crushing burden of debt. >> so he's got a new video out today. he's got some other ones you can look at as well. i'll tweet links if you want to take a look president the political part is medicare and medicaid. president didn't touch entitlements in his budget. big changes to medicare and medicaid. nothing for current recipients but after 2022 there would be major changes, very different approaches. paul ryan, congressman ryan says there are inexcusable wastes in medicare and we must fix it. democrats immediately say he's favoring millionaires over medicare. >> he's very passionate about

this. thank you very much. >> makes it fun for us because we get the material to work with. >> the fire and brimstone is great for me because i have to fact check it all. love doing that. severe storms on the first day of spring hammering the nation's mid section. last night a tornado touched down in south central texas, right near san antonio. we are so sorry about that for you guy, part of the long line of storms stretching from texas to minnesota. >> it means rob marciano is busy, up all night i guess in the cnn weather center. are they out of the serious watches and warnings or where do they stand there? >> the line itself is moving slowly to the east, so slowly we've had a problem with flooding as well in an area that's been plagued with drought, so that's good news but all at one is not the best. three reports of tornadoes south of san antonio, some damage there in divine, moving off to the east rapidly. here are a look at the rainfall totals, these are records set and across texas, missouri and oklahoma, waco almost four inches, joplin, missouri, over

three inches and over three inches in oklahoma city and tulsa nearly that as well. here is the radar, severe thunderstorm watch out for much of southeast texas for the next few hours. dallas you're seeing heavier rain, pockets of flooding, flash flood warnings east of san antonio and southwest of joplin, missouri. another six inches possible as the line slowly moves off to the east the next 12 to 24 hours. it doesn't really get past the mississippi river so the flood threat is ongoing and the threat for severe weather with potentially damaging winds and maybe tornadoes today. east of the mississippi, 20 to 30 degrees above average. pollen counts and temperatures near 70 degrees in new york city and mid 80s in atlanta. spring is here. >> happy first day of spring. >> likewise. outrage in new york, why food donations to the homeless are being blocked by the mayor. and another accident at sea,

look at the damage on this big vessel. it's a luxury cruise liner, not such a luxury to be on it. how did it crash into a containership? we'll tell you. parents listen up, housing bust or investment opportunity. a 14-year-old florida girl now a proud homeowner. >> sweet. >> i woke up my 13-year-old to watch. you need to do it as well. you are watching "early start." >> she hhe has one year to get together. [ male announcer ] if your kid can recognize your sneeze from a crowd... you're probably muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air.

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good morning miami. it is 73 degrees right now. partly cloudy. later you're going all the way up to 83 degrees but you're going to get some rain with that. here's a reason that we are in miami. when the housing market went belly up in south florida, some turned the crisis into an opportunity. in january of this year, willow tifano became a homeowner. this great bargain is a fixer upper, needed a lot of work and headed for foreclosure and on the market for just $12,000. guess what, folks? which low tifano is just 14 years old. she bought the home along with her mom. they now rent it out and which low tifano and her mother, shannon moore joining us live from naples, florida. shannon is a real estate agent. thank you for being up so early. willow, i'll start with you. where did you get the money for a downpayment on a house? >> well, i saved it up by

selling things on craigslist that i found, that i bought from garage sales, that i found on the side of the road, garbage day, auctions, craigslist, ebay, freecycle, just a lot of different places, and i saved that to buy a house. >> so shannon, i understand that some of the homes that you had in foreclosure perhaps is where whi willow got this idea to sell some of the items in that home. is that true? >> yes, it is. i have investors who buy foreclosed properties and sometimes they leave behind items, and generally my investors put stainless steel appliances in the properties, and if the appliances are white or black, they usually, they don't want them so they give them to willow to sell. >> we're showing some pictures right now of the house i believe that you bought, the before and afters of it. tell us, willow, how you close

that house. >> well, i heard my mom talking about it with my dad at the dinner table. they said a house for $12,000, and that sort of caught my attention. i was like, i asked my mom, i have $6,000. would you like to buy it with me? and it was sort of a surprise in the beginning. >> willow, i have a 13-year-old son -- >> pretty much the price was the big thing. >> i have a 13-year-old son and if he had $6,000 in the bank the last thing he'd want to do is buy real estate. how did that conversation happen? why did you say i want to spend it on this particular thing? >> well, i think it's sort of that i have an influence from my grandmother and my mom, because they both are in the real estate business, and i've been doing

online school for about two years now, and i'm able to go around with them and see the different things that they see, and i think it's interesting, actually, not very many people do my age, but it really is. >> i'm really proud of you and i imagine, shannon, you are as well. it's apparent your daughter is an out of the box thinkinger but it's not just about self-gain. she did something unusual for her birthday. tell us about that. >> well, she i think it was her 11th or 12th birthday, she rented three different inflatables. they were $300 and she talked the person down to $150, half price, for the inflatables, and invited half the school to her birthday party, but the deal was is they had to either bring cash or supplies for the cats and dogs at the animal shelter, so everything for that birthday went to support the animal

shelter. >> so willow, i know that you are, is it 12 or 13 years old? >> the birthday party? >> are you 14 now? >> i'm 14, yes. >> what's in store for you? do you have any ideas of what you want to do when you grow up? >> i do not really know. i know i want to do investing, and i want to go to college to get my business and marketing degree, but i'm not really certain on what i want to do. i do know not really as a job but i'd also like to foster animals. so pretty much investing and fostering animals are what i have in plan for now. >> i'm sure that there is a lot in store for your future. shannon and willow, thank you so much for getting up nice and early with us. we wish you all the luck in the world and good job, mom, really good job. >> thank you. >> we have a lot to learn from this lady, both of these ladies. you're watching "early start."

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it is 29 minutes past 6:00.

welcome back to "early start." great to have you here with us. i'm ashleigh banlfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. time to check the stories making news this morning. some nasty old-fashioned chicago style politics as polls open in illinois 30 minutes from now. 54 critical delegates are up for grabs in today's primary. the two front-runners catching each other's credentials, romney calling santorum an economic lightweight and santorum referring to his rival as a "wall street financier." federal investigators and the fbi are now investigating the shooting of an unarmed teenager in florida. his parents are saying race was a factor in his death. the shooter, george zimmerman says he acted in self-defense and has not been arrested by local authorities. the justice department releasing this same saying "the department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate

action at the conclusion of the investigation." brand new information in the deadly shooting at a jewish school in the south of france. tough pictures to watch there, french official telling local media the gunman may have recorded the rampage. he had a video camera strapped to his chest. four people, three students and a teacher were gunned down right outside the school. a moment of silence was held today for the victims. molten lava spewing from italy's mt. etna. look at your screen, folks, it's a plume of ash and smoke pillowing out of the top and stretching four miles long. surprisingly, though, airports are all okay. nobody affected. this is europe's tallest and most active volcano, too. the u.s. is considering a plan to require court warrants from afghan authorities before embarking on any nighttime raids. that is according to a report in "the wall street journal." afghan officials have been upset about the raids for years now. the compromise is being discussed just nine days after u.s. army staff sergeant robert

bales allegedly killed 16 afghan civilians, in a nighttime shooting rampage. it is 31 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. bill clinton won the white house back in 1992. many say on the strength of four simple words "it's the economy, stupid." mitt romney and rick santorum appear to have gotten that point, too, because it seems to be their focus as illinois voters head to the polls in about 28 minutes from now. mitt romney leads santorum, with 44% of the gop voters and rick santorum just sitting at 30. both sides are making their own statements about the economy, and how important it is in this race. they're trying to win over the voters obviously, but they just might have stepped in it a little bit. a little bit. live now from wheaton, illinois, cnn's political editor paul steinhauser joins us and in washington democratic strategist peggy lee and in austin, texas,

republican strategist matt machoviak. paul, so exciting another race tonight, this one illinois, i feel like a broken record, 69 delega delegates, 54 at stake. you know something? i feel like -- >> reporter: you say it so well. >> i'm a broken record, oft repeated so it rolls off my tongue. it's not a winner take all state. it is a proportional state which means we're not going to have the big whoomph every candidate wants and needs so what are we going to get out of illinois? >> reporter: we may get a little momentum. if mitt romney wins here, he's supposed to win michigan, supposed to win ohio, he did that. he needs to win here, job number one for him. look at the other picture, what if santorum pulls an upset victory it could change the dynamic. maybe i sound like a broken but that's why illinois is so important and a must watch

state. mitt romney has been winning the moderate states and rick santorum the more conservative states. we saw that with alabama and mississippi last tuesday. this is to a degree more moderate republican electorate. mitt romney needs to win especially where i am, suburban chicago, a lot of voters, mitt romney needs to perform well where we think rick santorum will do better in the conservative south. >> do we see with a 14-point difference losing? >> reporter: not at all. two polls with double digit leads for romney. i'm trying to make this exciting. . work with me. >> just your sheer presence is very exciting to me. i'm thankful for everything you do. let me switch gears a little bit because mitt romney was on the stump yesterday talking about the economic recovery. i did not expect to hear this from one of the gop candidates. i will say that flat out so when i did hear it, my ears perkd rig

perked right up. hear what mitt romney had to say about our current economic situation. >> i believe the economy is coming back, by the way. we'll see what happens. it's had ups and downs. i think it's finally coming back. >> penny, i thought of you immediately, because i wondered how many commercial production houses are cutting that sound bite right now for the democrats in the general election? >> oh, absolutely. we would love to be repeating mitt romney's words, and the praise that he has for the fact that the obama administration's policies that were put into place are actually now starting to work. i mean, it's going to be very interesting to see how mitt romney actually now kind of maybe backtracks from that, because he's trying to have it both ways. on the one side he wants to say oh, obama's leadership has been horrible, awful, and we haven't been able to do anything but at the same time the economy is recovering so how does he square away both of those facts? so it's going to be interesting to see what he says going

forward. this is an economic election. >> here's my guess he runs a longer part of the sound bite but says it's not good enough yet or as fast enough. that's fair. he does make that argument, we shouldn't have been in this situation in the first place. matt, let me turn to you for a moment when i was listening to rick santorum i thought he's having a romney moment when we talked about unemployment and that was the moment he had in the studio with soledad o'brien when he said i'm not worried about poor people and had to deal with a lot of damage control. let's listen to rick santorum's reference to unemployment. >> i don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. doesn't matter to my. my campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment and growth rates. there's something more foundational that's going on here. >> it's harsh to hear at the beginning. he does provide the context but context or not, is that troublesome? >> i think it's a little bit troublesome.

you never want to say something like that, people will use it against you and there's a lot of economic anxiety out there right now. people are seeing gas prices reach above $4 a gallon, expecting them maybe to get to $5 this summer which is really placing hardship on a lot of people. seeing the unemployment rate be while it's improving slightly in terms of statistics, people feel like it's difficult to find a job. a lot of people have been unemployed for a very long time. when you hear a comment it makes santorum seem out of touch or unfeeling and that's something that's not helpful, because santorum's appeal has always been to the blue collar worker. >> sure. >> while romney's appeal has been to the wealthier group of republican primary voter answer that's what's so interesting about illinois, it is a midwestern state, to some extent a blue collar state in the suburbs around chicago but also down state where santorum will be strong. >> they're not going to want to hear the business about unemployment. >> and tonight's an opportunity for romney to gain momentum and

you have louisiana coming up from santorum could have a win. >> i feel for the guys because talking as much as they have to do all day every day and sleep on a bus, et cetera, et cetera, i'm amazed they don't make more gaffes. i like these guys and want to give them a big long leash. nice to see you all. >> thank you. evalongoria has been named a special co-chair for the obama campaign and raised as much as $500,000. eva longoria sat down with soledad o'brien to talk about her role and how hollywood and politics often collide. >> i think us celebrities in hollywood get a bad rap for wanting to get politically involved. the truth is i am an american citizen and i have a platform and a voice and been involved politically and i find that a lot of celebrities or a lot of actors or entertainers who want

to get behind a certain candidate can do so because that's their right as an american citizen. >> you can see the rest of soled soledad's interview with eva n longoria at 8:20 eastern. guess what, gas prices are up. aa just announcing the new national average for gas now $3.85 a gallon. it's up just about half a cent, not quite, though, but getting closer and closer to the $4 a gallon mark. oil prices are still high, $107 a barrel right now for light sweet. the oil by the way is the number one factor -- >> sweet crude. >> it's like a breakfast cereal, the number one thing driving your gas prices as well. there you have it. bad news we like to bring to you in a this way. 39 minutes past the hour. new york's homeless denied food donations by the city's mayor, sparking outrage. why is he doing that? we'll get some answers for you..

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well, good morning, new york city. if you step outside, 55 degrees, a little bit later today it will be at 68 degrees, partly cloudy and ashleigh said it's going to get yuckier. >> looks like gotham. look at your screen. >> a little eerie. i like it. 42 minutes past the hour. on any given day there are more than 40,000 men, women and children in new york city's homeless shelter population. feeding them comes at a great cost and a great effort. private donations of surplus food by houses of worship and organizations around the city have been commonplace, that is until now. those donations are being turned away. critics say new york city mayor michael bloomberg's administration is taking the term "food police" to new depths. jeff styer, director of the national center for public policy, joins to us talk about this. thanks for being with us. we appreciate it.

>> thanks for having me on. >> happy to have you on. people calling mayor bloomberg, the food police, calling him the anti-salt mayor as well. what's going on? what are these rules? >> the mayor has long tried to control how all of new yorkers eat, whether it's the salt rules or the transfat rules. now he's come into the city's homeless shelters and decided as long as we're feeding them we ought to control how they eat. it's okay to set nutritional guidelines but they've recently begun turning away donations from synagogues, houses of worship, bringing in high quality, safe food to share their bounty with these people. these are senior citizens, recovering drug abusers and alcohol abusers whose hearts and stomachs are warmed by some of this surplus food that is being voluntarily brought by community members and makes them feel like part of the community and now the mayor said hey we're controlling how you eat. you will eat this, you won't eat too much and we'll control everything that you eat. >> you wrote about this in "the new york post.

do you know specifically what types of food? is it all food or just foods that perhaps are not good for you? >> that's interesting. i was curious how that happened. now i had heard originally that only certain types of food were being accepted. so i called the city. i spoke to the commissioner of the department of homeless services, and he actually told me, no, we do not accept any food whatsoever, no matter how nutritional it is. the city is defending it self and saying well there are food safety concerns and food safety is a he will anymat issue but that's always been an issue and always been a concern and it's kind of interesting that they're using food safety as a defense for this policy, yet they've only started enforcing this policy shortly after their new nutritional guidelines went into effect. nutrition is all about balance and being reasonable and i think the mayor has lost his sense of that here. >> do you have any idea of the impact to the homeless shelters? >> sure, the homeless in new york city are not starving. i'll be fair to the mayor. they're getting their nutriti

nutritional needs met but how many of us are only getting -- occasionally you want a treat and i've talked with people who donated food to the homeless and and now seeing the food being turned away. i call them beneficiaries. the mayor might call them victims and they're disappointed. this was a highlight. this was not everyday food coming but a special treat that warmed them up so they were quite appreciative of the donations that came in. now they're quite disappointed. interestingly the department of homeless services commissioner told me last week that you know, they don't really need the food because we're giving them enough food. >> isn't that a valid point? it's not like they're not being fed. >> that is true, they are not starving, but the city wants to control everything they eat calorically, how much sugar, how much fat and how much fiber and even have recommended condiments, which ketchups they prefer and occasional treat like we should all enjoy, learning how to have nutritional balance includes an enjoyable treat every once in a while but not the way this mayor sees it.

>> in all fairness to the mayor, you mentioned this earlier but i want to put this up a statement they have released. "because of all sorts of safety reasons, we just have a policy. it is my understanding of not taking donations." i understand that you're trying to come up with a way to work around this. how so? >> food safety has always been a legitimate concern. we're not encouraging people to donate old food left around. >> how would you police that? >> the food that's coming in, the synagogue i go to on the upper west side is donating high quality surplus food from events, that's food they serve their own members, pretty expensive and very tasty. i have hey it. >> so how do you pick and choose where you accept the donations from? >> if the city were willing to allow this type of food to come in, they could find a way. for instance they could have authorized contributors, they could have groups that have been certified for food safety. this is about, this new

institution of the policy, they used to not enforce this, if they were longstanding policy. now they're enforcing it not because of food safety but because of their nutritional concerns so i don't -- >> i'm running out of time but quickly because i asked you to question and i don't think you've answered it. how are you trying to get around this? >> we would love more new yorkers to come in and make donations of healthy, safe food, and see what happens? see if the mayor continues turning the food away. if synagogues and houses of worship come in and serve the same food they're serving to constituents and members the mayor might realize this is a bad idea. >> jeff stier, director of the in a the center for public policy, thank you for coming on. >> thank you. soledad o'brien joins with us a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> good morning, coming up on "starting point" we'll talk to actress eva longoria, national co-chair for president obama's re-election campaign. we'll get her assessment.

also it's primary day in illinois. mitt romney, rick santorum will do battle in obama's sold stomping ground. we'll get party perspective from rnc chairman rice previs. peyton manning signing with the broncos. what does that mean for tim tebow and tim tebow fans? we'll talk about that ahead on "starting point." short break. "early start's" back in just a moment. man, i'm glad aflac pays cash. aflac! ha! isn't major medical enough? huh! no! who's gonna help cover the holes in their plans? aflac! quack! like medical bills they don't pay for? aflac! or help pay the mortgage? quack! or child care? quack! aflaaac! and everyday expenses? huh?!

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. 52 minutes past the hour. time to check stories making news this morning. here is christine romans. >> good morning, ladies. the fbi now investigating the killing of an unarmed teen by a neighborhood watch captain in florida. trayvon martin's parents say race was a factor in his death. the shooter, george zimmerman, says he acted in self-defense. he has not been arrested. the justice department now releasing a statement saying "the department will conduct a thorough, an independent review of all the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation." less than ten minutes before

polls open in illinois. mitt romney calling his rival an economic lightweight. rick santorum questioning whether americans really want a wall street financier to be president of the united states. a luxury cruise liner crashing into a containership in thick fog off the coast of vietnam. passengers knocked off their feet. luckily no one was hurt, though. both ships suffered damage. and apple, it says it sold 3 million new ipads in the three days since its release. that's the strongest launch yet for an ipad. the latest model comes with a faster processor, a sharper screen. prices starting at $499 and the ipad 2 sells for about $399. >> 3 million, are you kidding me? >> 3 million in three days. there is never a recession in an apple store. >> is that worldwide? >> yeah but i think the big launch was here in the united states. i'll check it out, 3 million in three days, that's a lot of

them. >> a lot of ipads. i still think it's okay to invest but i do not do business so i'll leave that to you. thank you, christine. it is 53 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast. did you see this? this was great, first lady going on david letterman, kiss, hug, and then some cool stuff about walking around town undercover, when you're the first lady. you'll hear all about her covert missions. you're watching "early start." [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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i thought i was undercover. i have to tell you something about this trip, though. >> um-hum. >> no one knew that was me because a woman actually walked up to me, right, i was in the detergent aisle and she said, i kid you not, she said, "excuse me, i just have to ask you something." i thought oh, cover's blown. she said, "can you reach on that shelf and hand me the detergent." i kid you not. and the only thing she said, i reached up, because she was short and i reached up, pulled it down, she said "well you didn't have to make it look so easy." >> she was not undercover, right, because somebody snapped that photo of her there. so michelle obama also said that she has gone undercover to petco with bo, the first dog, hardly undercover there. >> but the secret service goes along i'm sure they're never far behind. each president -- look at that

dog. >> so adorable. what a sweet ride on air force one. bo waiting for his owner. i won't go without you. that dog alone is worth the price of admission. hey, everyone, that's "early start." the news from a to z. i'm ashleigh banlfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. >>. welcome, everybody. the gop battle on president obama's home turf. the polls are open in illinois and it's getting personal. governor romney is trying to prove he's mr. inevitable. >> we're not going to be successful in replacing an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight. >> you really believe this country wants to elect a wall street financier as a president of the united states? >> we're following what's happening there. also this young man, 17 years old, unarmed, carrying only skittles and iced tea and now the faib is stepping in to investigate the shooting death of trayvon martin. also the tsa pats down a kid in a cast in